So.....What's Up With Blogzilla 1985, Anyway?

So I know it wasn't long ago that I said we would no longer be updating Blogzilla 1985. I had
devoted myself to closing the site down because I didn't want to be in the spotlight anymore.

And, for the record, I was committed to that. I've already written about it a dozen times on the site, but I have a very love/hate relationship with the entertainment industry. I just wanted to disappear because I made my point, I got my name out there, and I was satisfied.

Of course, satisfaction never lasts long. And just like Keanu Reeves character in Devil's Advocate, all it took was a little poking and prodding from the devil to get me right back into the thick of things. And thanks to a bunch of little devils who won't let me rest, I'm happy to announce that BZ85 will live on after all.

But! There are some major changes coming to the site. I'll be spending most of my time recording for Podzilla 1985, our newest endeavor that has really taken off like a rocket already. I'm having a great time doing, and it really has been a long time coming. We even have a media player at the top of the page so you can keep up with all of the great shows right from the comfort of Blogzilla 1985.

I'll still be overseeing everything that happens with BZ85, but for the most part I'll be handing over the text based site to long time BZ85 writer Lindsey Wolfgong. We may even be hiring new writers soon, so if you've ever been interested in writing for this beloved site of ours, let us know!

And where can you let us know?

How about our Facebook page! We're redoing the design and will be frequently updating it and promoting it like crazy, thanks to Zach and Kaeley.

So why all of the sudden attention to all things Blogzilla 1985? Because, and it's not a surprise to anyone who knows me, I need it. I need Blogzilla 1985, and it's in my blood. Dr. Frankenstein can never shake off his monster, and I'd rather embrace it than be ripped apart by it.

So, I want to thank all of you loyal readers who have stuck with us through thick and thin. I hope to continue to entertain you in new ways for many years to come. If I had a drink, I'd be toasting you right now.

See you next Wednesday!

The End of Blogzilla 1985

It's with a heavy heart that I write this final entry of Blogzilla 1985. The site will no longer be updated after this post.

How did we get here? A lot of people close down their blog sites due to either a lack of interest or a lack of viewership. I'm proud to say that BZ85 has neither of those problems. We're as opinionated as ever, and we have a dedicated following that I am grateful for.

There are a myriad of reasons behind the closure, the most important of which I'll discuss at the end. First, I want to talk a little bit about the history of Blogzilla 1985 and why it was always so important to me.

I started this website five years ago this month under the title of "Blogs They Don't Want You to Know About." There were probably four or five posts under that title, and I believe all of them dealt with the state of the MMORPG industry. I'm a big fan of the genre, and I found that my greatest success came from writing about it. Of course, there was no success with those posts. I think I had two to five viewers per article, and it was disheartening.

But, it was definitely a personal blog back in 2009. There were no fancy banners, custom graphics, or any sense of style or flair. It was a simple blog for me to complain and whine about whatever was on my mind before I went in to work at Gamestop. I'm pretty sure the only people who read it were my then girlfriend Lindsey and my cousin Ryan.

Thanks, guys!

I had no real affection for the site, and I quickly abandoned it when I got an offer from MMORPG.com to write for their site and get paid for it. I wrote a handful of articles there, but left after a disagreement with the direction their site was going. I spent the next year or so doing nothing with my writing, as I fell into a trap of real depression after I lost my job at Gamestop and found myself dealing with a chaotic family.

My one legged elderly dementia ridden father lived with my half brother and his harpy of a wife, and I soon found that he was being abused by her when she accidentally called me and I overheard one of their fights. After months of bickering and fighting, I cut off ties with the rest of my family and took care of my father as he went in and out of different convalescent centers before finally moving into an apartment of his own. It was a very painful time in my life, because my father was the only family I had now, and all he ever wanted was to die. I watched him wither away into a fragile lump of flesh that used to be the big strong father that I wanted to remember him as.

In my darkest hour I reopened my blog in July of 2012. It was more than just a blog site now. I rechristened it Blogzilla 1985 in honor of my favorite Godzilla film, and I poured my heart and soul into it. It became an outlet for me to express myself and connect with people again. I had sworn off human contact after the ordeal with my family, because I just didn't feel like I could handle people anymore. It was easier to write to them and about them from behind a computer screen.

Blogzilla 1985 helped me keep what little bit of the human soul that hadn't been ripped out of me by my personal life. It's no exaggeration that on more than one occasion, writing this blog kept me from doing something terrible. I was weak, and it helped me regain myself.

Of course, the views still weren't there. By this time I had established a good fanbase of my own through personal interactions out in "the real world," and it translated to some success with BZ85. I went from four views in 2009 to upwards of fifteen per article when I reopened the site. By this time I was writing as therapy more than for attention, so it didn't bother me as much. I was happy with the site, and that was all that mattered.

That all changed on October 5th when I published an interview I did with up and coming model Christine Adams. She was the perfect person to draw attention to the site. She was obviously gorgeous, a gamer girl, and had a penchant for getting naked in her photos. Most importantly to me, she was very nice and damn interesting to talk to. We became friends afterwards, but in the months that followed we just kind of lost track of each other.

Still, her presence on the site launched Blogzilla 1985 into a new level of success.  Thanks to her, those fifteen views shot into the hundreds, and then the thousands for the site. It became popular enough that I brought in other writers to help keep the content coming.

It was at this point that things may have gotten a little out of hand. The people who started writing for the site each had their own style and subjects, and while they were all great at what they did, the site kind of lost its focus.

I would be a jackass if I didn't thank them for helping me when I needed them the most. I couldn't have done this site without them, and I want to thank Lindsey, Phil, Melissa, Louie, Ryan, and Osby for all of their contributions.

With more writers and daily content, BZ85 became kind of a phenomenon for me. People were excited about it and we had a lot of crazy ideas that never really came to fruition. We were thinking about designing t-shirts, merchandising, making spin off sites, etc etc. It was a fun time to be a part of Blogzilla.

With the new success, I got do a lot of cool things. I interviewed a lot of great people, including a personal hero of mine. In the course of the next year I interviewed old friend and radio DJ star Hunter Hendricks, former Electronic Arts designer J.P. Harrod (who got to work on my favorite game of all time, Ultima Online!), and even world renowned ufologist and nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman. It was a wild ride, and I still can't believe such interesting people took time out of their busy lives to talk to me.

From 2012 to the end of 2013, Blogzilla 1985 was a real hit. People cared about my thoughts, and I felt really good about myself.

It was near the end of 2013 that I found out my father had been diagnosed with cancer. I was already working a full time job now as manager of local game store Gaming Grounds in Southeast Missouri, and I decided to spend as much time with my father as I could before he passed away. For the next better part of a year I spent most of my free time at his side, and Blogzilla 1985 obviously suffered for it. There weren't enough hours in the day, and what was left of my family came before my own life. I stopped working on BZ85 for the most part, as did most everyone else on the roster. Lindsey kept it updated as often as she could, and I will always be thankful to her for her dedication to my dream.

My father passed away from cancer earlier this year, after nine months of immense suffering and a lot of catching up with his youngest son. I was glad that he was out of pain, but I fell into another depression. I had no family now, and I had never felt more alone.

Just like before, I turned to Blogzilla 1985 for comfort. I rebooted the site with just two authors - myself and Lindsey. We wrote until our fingers bled, and Blogzilla 1985 became a hit again. Within weeks we were fetching hundreds of views per article, and I felt like I had a purpose again. Writing was my true passion, and while I would never claim to the world's best writer, I was proud of what I had done.

And then, on August 25th, I posted an article which would grant me my greatest success at the cost of my pride. I was furious over the closure of the GameStop in the West Park Mall of Cape Girardeau, MO. It was where I worked for four and a half years as manager, and I had a lot of great memories there. I also still had a handful of good friends who made their living there, and they were now out of the job. I wrote a blistering personal attack on the company, and after a dare to a friend to post it on Reddit,I found myself with a lot of unwanted attention.

As of this final post, that post is at over 39k views and still climbing daily. It was an infamy I never wanted, and it shook my desire to keep writing for Blogzilla 1985 as I didn't want it to be overrun with Redditers. I'm not a fan of that particular site, and I doubt I ever will be.

After a few weeks things settled down a bit, and I continued to write. However, the whole Reddit thing was constantly in my mind, and it was an uneasy feeling that I couldn't shake off.

I posted another article about the dangers girls face after the whole Fappening ordeal, and once again the site was bombarded with views. It became clear to me that the people coming to the site were just looking for naked pictures of celebrities, and it upset me. If you don't believe me, just look at this log of search keywords that brought people to Blogzilla in the past month -

the fappening 2
fappening 2
kate upton fappening
fappening part 2
the fappening part 2
fappening
fappening part 2 jennifer lawrence
mary-kate fappening
stars self fappening
"the fappening"

The articles I was most proud of had met with some success, while just having the word Fappening in an article title drew thousands upon thousands of horny internet losers on to my site looking for porn.

That was the last straw. I began to question my worth as a writer. I realized I was now catering to an audience I didn't want, and I felt like a sell out. I don't want to be remembered simply as an "internet writer." I want to be a celebrity, and I want people to remember my name. But there is no real fame to be found on a medium where any no talent hack with a cell phone and no morals can become an overnight sensation.

I have decided to retire Blogzilla 1985 before it becomes the kind of thing I despise. It may sound uppity to some, but it's the way it is. I'm thirty two now, and I need to find the kind of success that doesn't begin and end anonymously behind a computer screen. I'm going to devote myself to my fiancee, my work, my friends, and all of those great stories that have been swirling around in my head for years.

If I find success someday out there in the "real world," perhaps I'll come back and write about it here. But until the day I've found the success I've been looking for, Blogzilla 1985 will remain a happy memory of a very troubled soul.

I want to personally thank you all for helping to make this so successful. You made me believe in myself again.

Until we meet again, my friends.

Unexpected Attention and the Problem it Poses

I received quite the shock this morning when I got up.

My article, and I still hesitate to call it that, about Gamestop had received well over a hundred visitors since I posted it late last night. I was surprised, but also a little worried. This was not one of my best written pieces. I didn't do much research or delve very deep into the reasons I mentioned in passing about Gamestop being an awful corporation. It was legitimately just a personal attack on a store I still hold a grudge against, brought on by the pain and suffering my friends are going through because of the closure of store 261. It was personal, and I wrote it without giving the words much thought.

After all, it was just an angry little rant, and we're all entitled to one every so often, right?

So, I was worried that these hundred or so people had read these angry ramblings without understanding the passion behind them. I assumed that something like this would have only been read by the people who are being effected by it, and they would already know where I was coming from. They know the stories and the people behind them by personal experience, and they wouldn't need any explanation. I worried that I was going to come across as a poor writer to anyone unfamiliar with the situation. I kind of hoped the article would just go away, and I could go back to more thoughtful pieces, like the one I did recently about the situation in Ferguson.

And then came one of the biggest mistakes I'll ever make.

A friend on my Facebook page asked another friend to get it to the front page of reddit, because he was a frequent...I don't know what you call them, redditer I guess? Well, I laughed it off and told him to do it, half expecting him to not care and half worried that he would.

Well, he did. The little angry rant that I wrote for a certain group of people suddenly became a huge thing, and that hundred person viewership suddenly exploded to, as of this sentence, 14,688 people.

Mechablogzilla is Shutting Down

I originally created Mechablogzilla as a sister site to Blogzilla 1985 because I wanted a site to focus primarily on games. I have a lot of friends who skip the BZ85 posts that don't deal with the gaming industry, and this site was primarily for them. I had so many different writers posting so many different things on the main site that lots of posts got lost in the shuffle. Of course, those writers are all gone now, so....

With BZ85 as popular as it has ever been, I felt it was time to formally shut down Mechablogzilla. I just don't have time to keep both updated, and BZ85 is the primary site with access to all of the stories anyway.

So, it was a short ride, but I'd say it was still enjoyable. I tried some new design styles with the site, and while not all of them worked, it was a learning experience.

I remind you all that you can still read the latest and greatest ramblings of a mad duo on our Blogzilla 1985 site. I will leave Mechablogzilla up for another week, and then the site will go offline completely. Thank you all for reading, and I hope to keep seeing you guys at BZ85!

Farewell, Mechablogzilla!

Blogzilla 1985 joins Tumblr!

Since websites are so 2000's and Facebook is a fad that will die soon, the good people at BZ85 decided to extend our reach to Tumblr in a desperate attempt to fend off intellectual property death for another week or two.

So why not check us out on Tumblr? It's fast, responsive, and easier to connect with our fans. All three of them! Follow us today, because if it's not sexy we don't eat.

Follow BZ85 on Tumblr!

More Construction!?

'Fraid so! Turns out our very own RE Casper got a bee in his bonnet about the site design and has decided to spruce it up a bit. Seeing as how he does this kind of stuff for a living and I'm just some guy that used to have Angelfire, I decided to let him take a crack at it.

So expect sporadic posts on here until we get an even BETTER NEWER AND MORE FANTASTICAL BZ85 website.

Also, did we mention that we'll be moving to Blogzilla1985.com pretty soon?

That's right. Our own domain.

Today is tomorrow's yesterday!

UPDATE - Just noticed we're already at Blogzilla1985.com! Damn Caz works fast! Like a greased up weasel! 

BZ85 Talky Picture Show for 7.22.13

You think it's easy writing for Blogzilla 1985?

Well, of course it is! Even an individual with no writing talent has an opinion, and if they can put that opinion into anything remotely similar to a coherent written thought they're welcome on this site. He'll, moist of us hear can barely talk English, much less wrote parigraphs.

But you know what's harder than writing something down? Talking about it when you've got a microphone in your face. Still, audio is the way of the future, and if BZ85 is to survive the coming blog apocalypse we have to adapt.

So, I've taken it upon myself to start adding audio and video segments to the site, and I'm both proud and terrified to bring the first attempt to you - the loyal Blogzilla fans.

Both of you.

So before we come up with some crazy cool name for these segments, and also get the kind of equipment that makes it sound professional or legible, I bring to you this "talky."

In it we explore a couple of random topics and end with some ranting and raving about Trayvon Martin.

Enjoy, if you can.

Now that the Christmas spirit and good will to men is dead...

An American treasure.

We return to our regularly scheduled insanity with more frequent updates about our sad, sad existences and the little things that keep us from blowing our brains out.

For some, it's cartoons and ice cream, video games and romance, and all other things that people make songs about.

For me, it's boiling denim and banging whores.

Time to get back to basics.

Hey Jackass! Where's the updates?

You might have noticed things have been pretty damn quiet around BZ85 lately. With Christmas coming up we've decided to focus on our friends and families and let the other sites entertain you with their wit and talent.

Christmas is the least lonely time of the year...

But then we realized that most of us don't have any family and friends, so we looked at each other and said "Let's write some shit!"

And so, we shall. Who needs Christmas, anyway? Presents and loved ones and Jesus may work for some people, but not us. We'd much rather talk about television, video games, and hot women than waste a fraction of a second on this season. Right guys?

......oh right, they do have families and friends. Oh well, you still have me. And really, isn't that the greatest gift of them all?

Happy Turkey Day from BZ85

We hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving today.

How all Thanksgivings will look in 9595

Not that we're going to get all sentimental on you, but try to be thankful for all that you have. If you're like us it's probably not a lot, but it's important to appreciate what you do have.

We're personally thankful for good food, good friends, what's left of family, being employed, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
 
Oh, and God - thank you for Ziggy comics, little baby ducks, and `Sweatin' to the Oldies' volumes one, two, and four.

Also kittens, Nuketown, and a Nintendo system that I can be proud to say I own. It was truly a monumental year.

Remember to eat up your Taco Pie! I added food coloring because it's a holiday. But it turned black, because I added all the food coloring I had. Then I ate this butter straight out of the tub, because it tastes good. There's a reason behind everything.

Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!

Louie Benson - Making Us Proud

Louie Benson and I go way back.

Happier times, before that whole Disney announcement...

Before he was showing indie wrestlers the right way to do yoga and working out with legends like DDP, Jake Roberts, and underrated WCW star Glacier, I was saving his ass from jocks at GameStop. I witnessed his lame attempts at striking up conversations with cute girls at the mall. I was even his boss once before when I hired him as seasonal help, although he did more sittin' than workin'. We've eaten lunch together, talked wrestling, debated video games, and more than once I've tried my best to shut him the hell up for just a few moments.

It never seems to work.

Louie has always been a loud mouth who is pushing his way into the entertainment world any way he can, short of porn....so far. He's done television, he's done indie wrestling, and his audition tape for "The Biggest Loser" is legendary. In short - Louie Benson is a megastar in the making.

A Wild Osby Appears!!!

.....just when you thought it couldn't get anymore ridiculous.

Hi everyone! I'm Osby, but most people call me Oz. Yes, I understand that it's a different name...but it grows on you. Give it time. Pretty soon, you will love you some Osby!

I will be blogging from time to time. To better understand my reasoning behind future blog topics, it would be a good idea to go over details about myself. I'm 23 years old. I am a professional wrestler (currently injured). I've got a bachelor's degree in computer graphics (I plan on posting epic pictures from time to time). I recently taught undergraduate level courses at Southeast Missouri State University. I play video games religiously. I love Final Fantasy games WAY TOO MUCH. I have a Netflix addiction. I like long walks on the beach. I like taking random walks after midnight. I have a love/hate relationship with anime. Aside from wrestling, I'm a HUGE wrestling fanatic. I'm a web designer, graphic designer, videographer, 2D animator, 3D animator, photographer, etc. I play children's card games (yes, more than one card game). I am currently addicted to the KPOP sensation Psy. I think that's about it for now.

I plan on doing wrestling, video game, relationship, t.v. show, movie, music, etc. related posts. I hope that I don't bore any of you with my random shenanigans. 

Oh! I have a website. Check it out sometime.

www.osbytomlin.com

In closing, here's a video from my most recent wrestling match. My injury (torn cartilage around a rib) is a result from this match/training before this match. Oh, btw, I'm "Professor Magnus Cornelius Cage". Also, my manager "Lucky" happens to be fellow blogger Louie Benson.

-Osby

Tv's Phil 101 or "That class you fall asleep in"

Hello. I’m Tv’s Phil. I’m white. I’m 26. I’m from an unbroken middle class family. And I live in a small Missouri town.
I’m about as interesting as new mayo on untoasted white bread with a glass of whole milk. Or a Romney without the money or dedication to Joseph Smith.

In an attempt to find a better way to introduce and describe myself to you, I decided to sort of canvass my apartment building and ask my neighbors to describe me. This way I could more accurately describe myself the way others see me instead of my own puffed up version.

 But sadly, this wasn’t helpful.

 The responses I got from the people I’ve lived with for almost a year ranged from “Who?” to “Are you the jerk who steals my mail?” and one “I’m voting for Barack Romney. Now get your foot out of my door!”
So I’m stuck trying to do this myself.

My real name is Phil. I ripped the name Tv’s Phil off of Tv’s Frank from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
I’m pretty much the typical socially awkward guy that falls into the demographic “Males 18-34”.Growing up with technology, I play video games, submerge myself in social media, listen to the commentary tracks on TV shows and movies and can’t live without my smart phone.
I very much love the words aurora, manuscript, and starfire(which I'm not sure is a real word...but I don't care)
But other than that, I read comics, collect action figures, watch wrestling, and eat spaghettiO’s. You know, the kinds of things you don’t tell women about until you’re well into dating.


 Lord knows what blogging topics will pique my interest, but I can guarantee video games, movies, TV shows and superheroes will be among them. I may even attempt some creative writing.

I’m excited to get the chance to share my thoughts with the readers of this blog. And if you don’t enjoy them, I’ll beat you about the neck and shoulders.
And to get our relationship kicked off right, I want you to think about this fact: I'm probably going to regularly talk about how cool Aquaman is without an ounce of irony:

*Insert Derp Face Here*

Seriously, am I the only noob to write under an alias?! I'm ok with that, haha. :P

Miss E here, proud to have been invited to join the Blogzilla 1985 team.

I suppose that you may want to know a little about me as well. I am in my early 30s and old enough to know better than to have an obsession, but so what. I do and I don't care, sue me (PLEASE DON'T). I'm a member of the KPop fandom...  I am obsessed with love KPop music, watching Korean dramas and variety shows, as well as have an eccentric taste in music, movies, TV, hobbies, etc. and an interest in foreign fashion. Trust me, I know that there is more to life than music and k-pop, but it is fun to talk about... Yes I will talk about other things as well ^_^ Just wait and see. Haha

As you can see, I can be a very random person, so who knows what kind of crazy things I will entertain you with. Stay tuned.

PS This one's for you, Shannon: 

Ay ladies. A/S/L?

Why hello there. It's me, the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour. To sum it up, I'm Louie. I'm also obligated to tell you that I'm a convicted sex offender.

Okay, not really...

Ahem.

Anyhoo, I'll be blogging about things and stuff, and also wrestling and vidya games and whatnot. I suppose vidya games is the primary focus of this blog so you shouldn't really be surprised. Let's pretend like I'm not staring at your boobs and I'll tell you a bit about myself. I tend to be obnoxious and opinionated (why else would I write a blog?). I'm a purveyor of movies, TV, music, humor, wrestling, technology, vidyas, and all kinds of crap I'm going to need you to pretend to care about.

Current Obsessions(Yes, I stole this from Lindsey): Girls, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, the Walking Dead, torrenting old Japanese wrestling, girls with nice fannies, DDPYoga (61 pounds down since June and counting), girls who like things I like, Rewatching Arrested Development, trying to decide on whether or not to buy to Kindle Fire HD or the Google Nexus 7

Current Dislikes: Girls that won't make out with me(There are far too many of you), girls that try to pawn making out with me on their friends, girls who get restraining orders, dairy.

I'll leave it up to you as to whether or not my dislikes are true. And despite what Ms. Lindsey would have you believe, even though she's the nerdy girl, I have better boobs. Anyways, sup ladies. A/S/L?

A Wild Otaku has Appeared....

Hello Blogzilla 1985 readers, I was told if I didn't introduce myself it would be done in the form of bringing up old terrible writing I did back in high school. So let's just avoid  that unpleasantness and get this started. I am your resident nerd on all things animated, and generally related to art. Here's the rundown in character sheet fashion.

Name: Lindsey Wolfgong
Obsessions: Sailor Moon, Pokemon, My Little Pony, Project Runway, Nightmare Before Christmas, Fraggle Rock

Topics Likely to Cover: Animation, Art, Cosplay and Conventions, Fashion, Manga and other things the boys don't want to.
Hobbies: Drawing and some dabbling in painting, making custom dolls and ponies, sculpting with clay, fashion design, cosplay, collecting toys (mainly Sailor Moon, Pokemon and My Little Pony), making AMVs (anime music videos for those who don't know), and the occasional fan fiction writing. I'm also horribly addicted to shoujo manga (gender benders and harem series get me every time...). Puzzle games and Pokemon are my favorite games to play but I also enjoy Viva Pinata, the Sims, and Skylanders. I also play the occasional MMORPG, Guild Wars 2 is the flavor right now but I've enjoyed WoW and a few others as well.
              
In the long run, until Shannon hires some more female writers I will be your resident girly-nerd. Oh wait...I just found out he did. That didn't take long....

Big Changes at Blogzilla 1985 Are a Comin'!

With all of the sudden attention this little bird has been getting lately I figured it was time to step it up. In the next coming weeks expect new features, a new design, new authors, and the same Godzilla. Things may get a little crazy here, but we do it for the shorties.

Where does the time go?

I hadn't realized it'd been so long! I think it's time I started telling you how I felt again.

Baby, this time it's forever.